Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine

A Message from Our Chair

The
patient’s best interests come first. This commitment takes priority over
everything else we do. Even though we are an academic center with serious commitments
to education and research, we never lose sight of the fact that all our
activities serve one person – the patient.

Our mission is to improve the health and wellbeing of the people of this region by means of Patient Care, Education and Research. It is the full and thoughtful integration of these three elements that makes academic medical centers different. It is the dedication to placing patient care first that identifies the best of these centers.

Here you can become acquainted with our faculty, their particular interests and become acquainted with our residents. You will also find descriptions of our clinical services, residency program, medical student clerkship, and specialty programs.​

Residency Training News

Welcome to our Newest Psychiatry Residency Program Residents!

Dr. Letitia Bolds

Dr. Poonam Deshmukh

Dr. Preston Gentry

Dr. Luciana Giambarberi

The American Hospital Association

The website of the American Hospital Association has featured a story on the Geriatric Outreach Program, "Meeting the Mental Health Needs of the Elderly Home-Bound through a Geriatric Psychiatry Outreach Program - Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, NC." The article details the difficulties of many elderly patients getting to a health care setting to receive treatment due to frailty, disability, physical illness, or psychiatric illness. To meet the needs of these patients, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center established an outreach program for the frail elderly who need psychiatric services in their homes." AHA members can click here to read the case example to see how the Geriatric Outreach Program helps to meet the needs of the home-bound elderly.

Awards and Recognitions

​Arnold Honored by State Alliance

Elizabeth Arnold, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral medicine, has received the Steve Jordan Award​ from the North Carolina affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI NC.)

Arnold is recognized for being an innovator and advocate for the development of services for people living with mental illness and their families. She was nominated for her development of the Homeless Opportunities and Treatment Project which offers clients access to no-cost mental health services at Samaritan Ministries, a homeless shelter and soup kitchen in Forsyth County. The project is funded by Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust.

NAMI NI seeks to promote recover and optimize the quality of life for those affected by mental illness in North Carolina.

Hurley
is recognized for her contributions to the field of traumatic brain injury and
post-traumatic stress disorder, particularly her research related to the
effects of military deployment-related TBI on brain function, behavior and
psychopathy.

Incorporated
in 2007, the Psychiatric Foundation of North Carolina exists to improve
psychiatric care and awareness.

The American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (AAGP)

The American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (AAGP) has created a new AAGP Deirdre Johnston Award for Excellence and Innovation in Geriatric Mental Health Outreach Services to encourage programs to provide and/or expand services for meeting the mental health needs of the frail elderly in their homes. The association will grant $10,000 to a program based on its excellence and/or innovation in providing mental health services to older adults in the community.

This annual award is made possible by a generous gift from Arnold H. Snider to the Geriatric Mental Health Foundation, which with the association oversees the award. This award is named in honor of geriatric psychiatrist Deirdre Johnston, MBChB, MRCPsych, in gratitude for the care she provided to Kate Mills Snider, Mr. Snider's mother. Mr. Snider and his wife, Katherine, have endowed the Kate Mills Snider Geropsychiatry Outreach Program and Professorship Fund within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. View press release.

Deirdre Johnston MB BCh BAO MRCPsych was formerly a member of the Wake Forest School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, now with Johns Hopkins University.

Disclaimer: The information on this website is for general informational purposes only and SHOULD NOT be relied upon as a substitute for sound professional medical advice, evaluation or care from your physician or other qualified health care provider.